Rail strike in the spotlight and more flights axed

Elsewhere flight chaos continues as easyJet axes more flights from London Gatwick this morning, and BA and WizzAir also cancel scheduled trips.

Here are the headlines that travel woke up to on Monday morning (13 June).

easyJet cancels 44 Gatwick flights

easyJet cancellations continue this Monday with 44 flights scrapped to and from easyJet’s main UK base London Gatwick. Axed flights include journeys to Sicily, Sardinia and Egypt, with around 10,000 travellers impacted. Wizz Air and BA have also cancelled flights. (The Independent)

Train strikes set to impact festival goers

The scheduling of rail strike action later this month could have a huge impact on travel to festivals and other events including Glastonbury, trade bodies have warned. National Express has already laid on extra coaches to meet a ‘significant increase’ in demand over the 23-26 June weekend. (The Guardian)

Rail redundancy scheme inundated with applications

Rail workers are clamouring for voluntary redundancy according to a report in The Telegraph, after a newly announced scheme was inundated with thousands of applications. The editorial says the 5,000 applications call into question claims that rail bosses are forcing job cuts. (The Telegraph)

Shapps vows to crush strike action

The transport secretary Grant Shapps has said the UK will not be held to "ransom" by unions, and government sources have said "nothing is off the table" when it comes to tackling strike action tabled by rail workers for later this month. Shapps has suggested repealing the ban on firms using agency staff to fill in for striking workers. (Daily Express)

Unions attack bid to break strike action

Union chiefs have reacted to government threats to break planned strike action by the rail industry using agency staff. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said it would create "genuine safety risks" for staff and passengers, as well as worsening disputes and poisoning industrial relations. (The Times)